Sales
How do you find the right sales professional to help you boost sales, increase conversion rates, gain new leads, or meet targets? Here’s an overview of what you can do to find, hire, and work with a freelance sales representative.
What is a sales representative?
A sales representative works with companies and entrepreneurs to conduct sales and increase conversion rates. A sales representative may be engaged in a variety of activities related to generating revenue, including lead generation, outbound sales, inside sales, and networking.
How do you hire a sales representative?
The first step in the process is to clearly define what products or services you’re selling to give your potential sales rep an idea of what they’ll be working with. Depending on the length of your sales cycle, you may need expertise in all or some of the following:
- Lead generation. Are they coming on board to help find new customers and create interest around your brand? Lead gen experts often use digital tools like website optimization, social media marketing, paid search, SEO, mobile marketing, and email.
- Consulting on your current sales process. Need a sales consultant to take a look at your existing sales operation and help streamline and optimize? Want to test another sales channel before implementing it, like live chat sales?
- Outbound sales. These sales professionals reach out directly to fresh leads, including cold calling consumers and businesses that may have an interest in your product.
- Inbound sales and marketing. Do you have a new site or revenue stream that needs a boost? An inbound sales professional can optimize your site performance and convert website visitors into active leads using data-driven metrics. They also create sales funnels for new products to drive interest and sales.
- Peak season volume overflow or new product launches. Need sales support to handle a seasonal influx or initial, post-launch increase in calls?
- Upselling and cross-selling.
Refining your sales goals with a basic overview can help you identify high-level information such as who you’re targeting, opportunities (e.g., size of market), decision maker for each stage of the sales cycle, and any daily, weekly, or monthly goals. This may require some research to create the necessary documents your sales rep will need to get started and optimize their time.
How much does it cost to hire a sales representative?
Rates can vary due to many factors, including expertise and experience, location, and market conditions.
- An experienced sales representative may command higher fees but also work faster, have more-specialized areas of expertise, and deliver higher-quality work.
- A contractor who is still in the process of building a client base may price their sales representative services more competitively.
Which one is right for you will depend on the specifics of your project.
How do you write a sales representative job post?
Your job post is your chance to describe your project scope, budget, and talent needs. Although you don’t need a full job description as you would when hiring an employee, aim to provide enough detail for a contractor to know if they’re the right fit for the project.
Job post title
Create a simple title that describes exactly what you’re looking for. The idea is to target the keywords that your ideal candidate is likely to type into a job search bar to find your project. Here are some sample sales representative job post titles:
- Independent sales rep needed for new kitchen appliance
- B2B sales expert needed for software company
- Entrepreneur looking for sales representative to help book appointments
Project description
An effective sales representative job post should include:
- Scope of work: From appointment setting to upselling, list all the deliverables you’ll need.
- Project length: Your job post should indicate whether this is a smaller or larger project.
- Background: If you prefer experience with certain industries, software, or audiences, mention this here.
- Budget: Set a budget and note your preference for hourly rates vs. fixed-price contracts.
Sales representative job responsibilities
Here are some examples of sales representative job responsibilities:
- Update CRM software with sales data from prospect interactions
- Cross-sell suite of consulting services to existing customers
- Engage prospects via outbound calling and face-to-face appointments
Sales representative job requirements and qualifications
Be sure to include any requirements and qualifications you’re looking for in a sales representative. Here are some examples:
- Bachelor’s degree in marketing or business
- Experience conducting outbound calls to prospects and existing customers
- Familiarity with CRM software and outreach based on prospect scoring